Yardplay Faction
Southern Yardplay (남사당) is a class of traditional martial arts practised by the Yardplay Faction, consisting of seven seperate martial arts disguised in the traditional Korean theater and magic performances of Namsadang. The Yardplay Faction began as a wandering troupe of itinerant performers prior to the Three Kingdoms Era of Korea and formally became known as the Yardplay Faction following the Josean Dynasty, eventually settling in Anseong in the Gyeonggi Province. During this time they completed seven distinguished martial arts; Sal-Pan (Life Wish), Buh-na (Spinning Dishes), Poong-Mul (Orchestration Play), Uer-Leum (Rope Trick), Dul-mi (Doll Play or Puppeteering), Dut-Bwe-Gi (Mask Play) and Url-Leun (Mirage or Shadowers Magics). Knowledge of Mirage was lost over time however, and the art was discontinued until it's partial revival by Chun Guesong. Yardplay is unique amongst traditional Korean martial arts as practitioners, known as Yard Players, practise one of the six main traditional Yard Play arts (excluding Mirage) as their major or primary skill and a second Yardplay art as a minor or secondary skill. Mirage is considered a passive art that can be applied to upgrade or enhance the six established Yardplay arts and not a true major or minor art in it's own right. Yard Play Faction's traditional arts are known for requiring large amounts of Ki and appear to be one of the more formidable martial arts seen in the series with 3 Yard Players represented on the Reunion Officer Candidate School Council at one time or another, two of whom reached Level 9. Notable practitioners of Yard Play arts include Chun Guesong, Park Hyunmi, Yuhwa and Madang Bigaki. Martial Arts 'Life Wish' Life Wish or Sal-Pan is one of the six core Yardplay traditional arts. An acrobatic high speed art, Life Wish was disguised as the ground acrobatic feats of the Life Wish faction of Yardplay and was one of the more popular attractions of the troupe when they used to perform in order to make a living. Yardplay acrobats would often perform summersaults with flaming braziers in their bare hands leading to the creation of the most basic Yardplay skill the Heated Yang Palm Method. '''These dangerous acrobatic techniques led to the phrases "death wish" and "life wish" as the performers would wish that they would survive the performance, a testament to the risks involved with the art. Life Wish places priority on fast attacks that do great damage to an opponent while minimizing the risk toward the practioner, by quickly moving in and out of attack range using the instant dash skill '''Head of Lightning.''' The art also favours kicks and knees to punches and other upper-body striking skills. Life Wish also appears to lack long range Ki techniques, as such practitioners may minor in Bunha in order to increase their versatility and make up for this lack of long range skills. The culmination of the Life Wish's techniques is the eponymous 'Life Wish, '''this technique utilises the art to it's full extent and makes use of Head of Lightning in it's execution. Life Wish is the only art that Mirage has been applied to as of Part 1. The succesor of Life Wish Faction who practises Life Wish as his Major is known as the Sal-Pan-Shae. 'Heated Yang Palm Method The Heated Yang Palm Method is a palm technique that increases the temprature of the users palm to a high degree. This skill is considered among the most basic skills of the Yardplay Faction, the technique may not be exclusive to the Life Wish art but it is connected with the acrobatic performances that disguised the art. Use of this technique allowed Life Wish acrobats to handle flaming braziers during their performances. One notable application of this technique is in the cauterisation of wounds as displayed by Chun Guesong. 'Head of Lightning' Head of Lighting or Lightning Dash is one of the top instant dash skills in the Reunion Officer Candidate School rivaled only by techniques such as the Reunion designed dash skill Earth Fold. Head of Lightning traverses short distances with extreme speed allowing a Life Wish practitioner to close to attack range rapidly and can enhance kicks or punches performed during it's execution. Head of Lightning is also not easily evaded as dodge techniques such as Half-Step that rely on anticipating the timing of an attack are ineffective against it due to it's traditional art roots. Head of Lightning may also be a general Yardplay technique as opposed to a Life Wish specific skill, similar to Heated Yang Palm Method, although this is not certain as of Part 1. Park Hyunmi managed to apply Mirage techniques to Head of Lightning after obtaining Mirage from Chun Guesong improving the technique considerably. 'The Life Wish' The Life Wish is the ultimate technique of the Life Wish traditional art. The skill is initiated with Head of Lightning, the practitioner first grabs their opponent and performs Head of Lightning subsequently grinding them against the ground for some distance. The opponent is then thrown into the air, Tuna Turnover may be used to achieve this although it is not the correct technique. Once the opponent is vulnerable in mid-air they are pummeled with multiple high velocity kicks and punches at such speed that after-images may appear resembling Bunshin clones, as observed when the technique is performed by Madang Bigaki. The force of The Life Wish is such that it can embed a victim into a concrete ceiling. Chun Guesong applied Mirage to this skill to create the Topper's Life Wish. 'Bunha' ' ' Bunha or Spinning Dish is one of the six core Yardplay traditional arts and was disguised as a performance involving the spinning of dishes on long rods. Bunha serves the role of long range Ki techniques for the Yardplay Faction allowing practitioners to engage enemies outside of close quarters. The art specializes in creating materialized Ki spheres surrounded by rapidly rotating rings of Ki known as Bunha that can be used in various ways. Bunha may also be used as a palm technique by not fully creating the projectile and merely using the gathered Ki to supplement hand strikes. Bunha may be minored to close range arts like Life Wish in order to increase the effective range of the Yard Player. 'Bunha (Spinning Dishes)' Bunha is primarily a long range technique involving the creation of Ki projectiles through the use of traditional hand techniques and Ki control that can then be thrown at an opponent. However the art can show much greater utilitly in the hands of a Yard Player majoring in the art. Park Hyunmi was capable of creating large Bunha that not only served as projectiles but were also utilised for close range combat. Bunha may be used to grind opponents at close range simiply by attacking an opponent directly with the Bunha and multiple Bunha may be stacked atop on another to increase the damage from this technique. Bunha can also be used as shields by spinning the projectile along the practitioners forearm showcasing a defensive use of the form. 'Orchestration ' Orchestration or Poong-Mul is one of the 6 core Yardplay arts and was disguised in the musical arts of the Yardplay troupe. Orchestration characteristically uses Ki in a manner simlilar to soundwaves possibly even having a sonic component to the nature of it's Ki. Orchestration Play uses Ki shockwaves focused on the closed fist or open palm of the user and renders blocking futile as any intercepted blows cause the shockwaves to explode damaging the blocker regardless. The open palm version of Orchestration was referred to by Chun Guesong as "Sounding the gong", referencing the gong used in orchestrations performance art disguise and may be a seperate technique to the closed fist varint. The open palm technique also bears resemblance to the popular Reunion Officer Candidate School technique the Brain Rattler. 'Rope Trick' Rope Trick otherwise known as Uer-Leum is one of the six core Yardplay traditional arts and contributed to the Yardplay troupe disguise as an acrobatic act involving the performance of acrobatic feats on a tightrope suspended above the ground. Rope Trick may place more of an emphasis on footwork than other Yardplay arts due to the precise footwork needed for traversing tightropes. 'Tightrope Walking' ' '''Tightrope walking is a dash-like skill in which the Yard Player creates a gentle breeze-like force of unmaterialized Ki and extends it in a rope like form. The practitioner can then ride this Ki "rope" and quickly close the distance between themselves and their opponent. When Rope Trick practitioners ride this technique they can close distances even faster than Head of Lightning. 'Puppeteering' 'Grabber' 'Energy Thread' 'Marionette' ' ' 'Mask Play' Mask Play or Dut-Bwe-Gi has yet to be seen in the series as of Part 1 and the nature and extent of it's abilities are unknown. Mask Play was disguised as a theatrical act of the yard play troupes performance arts'.' 'Mirage' Otherwise known as Url-Leun or Shadowers Magics, Mirage's techniques became lost over time and the art was discontinued by the Yard Play Faction. Prior to it's partial reconstruction by Chun Guesong in 1999, Mirage last saw use in combat approximately 400 years ago during Hideyoshi's Invasions. Mirage is a passive art that can be applied to any of the other Yardplay arts and upgrade them to "another dimension" through the fusion of reality and illusion. Mirage allows the practitioner to manipulate the Ki within their body directly and in doing so can provide movement at high speed without any external stimulus. As explained by Shin Jeeha the Ki of the user acts like juice in a partially drunk beverage can, if the juice within the beverage can is moved internally the whole can will move without any force acting on it externally. Similarily if the Ki within the body is moved at the practitioners will the body can also move without any force acting on it externally. Applications of this technique include movement without any footwork, allowing the user to move in mid-air and rapidly escape close range attacks, and a skill known as '''Bunshin.'' So far the only applications of Mirage to other Yardplay arts has been the upgraded Life Wish performed by Chun Guesong known as 'The Toppers Life Wish '''and an enhanced Head of Lightning that allowed Park Hyunmi to close within attack range of Vera Linus despite the large difference in their respective abilities. ' ' 'Bunshin Bunshin is a single-instant multiple-body skill that allows practitioners to create "clones" of themselves that can move independently but have no physical substance and dissipate when disrupted. Their primary use seems to be misdirection, Chun Guesong used multiple Bunshin clones to disorient and mislead both Makihara Madoka and Vera Linus in his matches with them. 'The Topper's Life Wish' The Topper's Life Wish is the result of Mirage's application to The Life Wish. This skill combines illusion and reality upgrading The Life Wish with multiple Bunshin clones and allowing it to be utilised to greater effect. Chun Guesong used this skill against Makihara Madoka noting in the process that the standard Life Wish skill would be ineffective against an opponent of her level. Category:Fighting Style